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u/PuskerBat Jul 31 '26
For Basque in Iparralde (French part of the Basque country) "sugandila" is more used from suge (snake), also süskandera in Souletin dialect.
Musker comes from musu "face" and oker "twisted".
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u/Nerthus_ Jul 31 '26
In the traditional dialect of Ångermanland in central/northern Sweden the only named lizard/newt I know of is lissotriton vulgaris. Its is called skrattåbbar which literally means laughing perch because of it's apparent similarity to perch and ability to make a sound reminiscent of laughing. Reading older folklore it's obvious there was quite the bit of superstition surrounding this newt because of these features and in one dialect dictionary there is even the comment "believed to be something created by the evil one" in the entry for the word. Awfully harsh for such a small animal.
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u/TH3RM4L33 Jul 31 '26
Wrong for Romanian: the only word is "Şopârlă". Lezard means "lizard skin" in Romanian, not "lizard". Also I've never even heard anyone ever say it to begin with.
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u/appachehelicopter Jul 31 '26
a few more in moroccan darija are:
ħəndur, tiqlit, zəlmumiyya, wəzɣa
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u/MrOtero Jul 31 '26
In Spanish, Lagarto and Lagartija are not masculin and feminin. Are tottaly different species and genus. Lagarto (male or female) are big lizards, while lagartijas are much smaller species
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u/Jin_SobSob Jul 31 '26
In Yiddish we say “יאַשצערקע/יאַשטשערקע” (Yáşčerke). Slavic origin, might be a loan word from Knaanic, although I’m not well versed in etymology.
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u/BHHB336 Jul 31 '26
For Hebrew:
The word לטאה is the standard word for lizard, while חרדון is a specific family of lizards (called dragon lizards)
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u/Adamoism Jul 31 '26
In Polish, the forms for genderness is also a statement of size/threat:
"O, patrz jaki wielki jaszczur!"
Oh, look on this huge Lizard!
"Ale śliczna jaszczurka!"
Such a pretty (small) lizard!
I am talking common use, not academic.
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u/Awkward_Cash1828 Jul 31 '26
Well, in Russian too. If you see jaščerica you can call your friends to gaze at such curious finding, and if it is particularly cute or small it is jaščerka. But if you encounter jaščer you probably should run away, because it is either a dragon (or similar fantasy reptilian, dragon specifically is drakon), a dinosaur, or a komodo dragon.
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u/SunLoverOfWestlands Aug 01 '26
Turkic *keleŕ was first attested in an inscription from Kazakhstan as 𐰚𐰠𐰔 (kelez). This word has been conserved particularly in Oghuz but also in some Karluk and Kipchak languages. However it’s weird that Common Turkic kept r as well, where there should be ŕ > z shift.
The first part of the Turkish kertenkele (< keltekeler) was probably loaned from Persian کلته (kalta; “short, stunted”). One could argue that this word exist in Chuvash as well thus should be of Proto Turkic origin but it might have been loaned from Kipchak, particularly Tatar кәлтә елан (kältä yılan), meaning “short snake”. Gagauz, a close relative of Turkish, uses kistenkelä, roughly meaning “shortened lizard”. For context, keler in Turkish is used for particularly big lizard, especially the monitor lizards.
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u/galactic_beetroot Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
The Breton one means fern-cat, i like it. Can someone explain the Cornish? I understand it as "four legged" or "where is it going" 😅
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u/Rhosddu 15d ago edited 13d ago
Peswarpaw seems to be a revived Cornish rendition of late traditional Cornish pajerpaw/pajarpaw which had continued to be used after the death of traditional Cornish and may perhaps still be heard in the duchy. It means both 'lizard' and 'newt', afaik. It literally translates as "four paws" (nouns are singular after a number in Cornish).
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u/s_escoces Aug 01 '26
In Catalan a small lizard is also called a dragó coming from the same Latin root as the word used for a mythological dragon 'drac'
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u/Olive2252 Jul 31 '26
If you drop the first letter from ķirzaka and lizard, then it sounds suspiciously similar: -irzaka -izard
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u/PangolinQueasy6324 Jul 31 '26
Bielarusian- cmok
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u/F_E_O3 Aug 01 '26
Missing ødle (and I suppose also ødla) for Norwegian
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u/Erzter_Zartor Aug 02 '26
Where is that from?
I've only ever heard Øgle or Firfisle
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u/F_E_O3 Aug 02 '26
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u/Erzter_Zartor Aug 02 '26
Ehh, goes under the same hat as Kvesme, the word i use for wasp, but i dont expect everyone from different parts of the country to understand it
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u/F_E_O3 29d ago
Not fully the same. Ødla is a proper word in Ivar Aasen's dictionary
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u/Erzter_Zartor 29d ago
I will not respect Aasen's dictionary, it and his fucked language does nothing for our country.
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u/Erzter_Zartor Aug 02 '26
Dead on for Norway, apart from again acting like Finnmark doesn't have a majority of Norwegian speakers, as supposed to sami
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u/fenn-0 Jul 31 '26
The Finnish lisko for any type of lizard is a clipping of sisilisko, which now means the only lizard species living in the country (aside the legless slowworms) Zootoca vivipara.